New Flow test day

[nalu-sup]

Picked up my new Sunova Flow 8'7" from the shop today; very stoked! The morning had been wonderful glassy waist high waves on my Speeed, but by the time I got the Flow home, it was knee high with 16 mph straight onshore winds and a high tide; in other words the ocean was a complete mess. There is no way that I would normally ever paddle out in those conditions, but we all know that we cannot resist getting a new board wet, so I went out expecting to just see if I could stand up and paddle ten feet in that much wind and chop without falling in; I was not expecting much if any success on a new smaller board.
What I learned was a lot about the difference between primary stability and secondary stability.
When I first got to my feet, I was delighted with just with that small feat in these conditions; so far so good. When I got out into the serious wind and chop (worse than I have ever paddled in), the board was constantly and rapidly tipping side to side, more so I think than my other boards would have. However, I never got wet, which shocked the heck out of me. While the board was tippy in these conditions on a primary level, on a secondary level it let me stay up and save it when I know that my other boards would have dumped me in the drink; very interesting. I had not intended to catch any waves since they were a chopped up mess, and I did not see any hope of catching anything without the confused cross chop knocking me down, but since I was still dry, I decided to paddle out to the break. Once again I was delightfully surprised to make it out still dry. I saw a junky little wave coming and paddled for it expecting to hook a rail in the cross chop and go down, but the Flow easily caught the mushy junk wave with no drama. Content that this was going way better than expected, I paddled to the inside to play around with some pivot turn practice. On the way in, I felt the board start to plane, and looked down to see a little three inch reform that the Flow had caught with no help from me. I have paddled into this area enough times to know that those little three inch reforms are not easy to catch even if I really dig for them, and the Flow had caught a glide when I had not even seen this one coming. Impressed. I spent the next half hour in the sheltered lagoon doing tail pivot 180s and 360s, and was impressed by the board since I had been doing these a little poorly earlier in the morning on my Speeed in much less chop.
First day conclusions: 1. The board is more tippy than anything I have ridden. 2. At the same time the board is very good at letting me stay dry in very rough conditions. In other words it tips much more easily and rapidly from side to side than anything I have been on, but at the same time it was much easier for me to save my balance in chop when I know that my other boards would have dumped me; primary stability versus secondary stability; cool.
More to come when I get the Flow onto some clean waves.

 

[nalu-sup]

This morning was a great chance to give my new Flow a fair test, and it passed with flying colors. In one word, for me this board is PERFECT!
Conditions this morning were ultra glass for the first few hours, and then a light onshore breeze later. Waves were tiny knee high, with the occasional thigh to waist high wave coming through.
Here are my happy thoughts on the Flow today:
Stability: After my initial paddle yesterday in wind and ridiculous psycho cross chop, in this mornings glass, the Flows stability was awesome. Super easy when paddling, and even standing in place. While the board is a little tippy initially for me, it loves to right itself. Though it is ten liters less than my Speeed and slightly tippier; with decent bracing the Flow is sometimes easier to save it when a cross swell sucks a rail under. There is something about the way the rail on the Flow steps up to the flat deck that helps to stabilize the board when it gets to a certain point. I could not be happier with this.
Paddling: In the morning glass the board was a delight to paddle and had very nice clean glide through the water, better than I was expecting. The sleek outline really cuts through the water nicely. When paddling into tiny wind chop, the narrow nose slices very smoothly. When sprinting for some outside sets, the board was happy to get up a pretty good head of steam; I think maybe faster in a sprint than any of my other boards. I could not be happier with this.
Pivot turns: The very thin low volume tail is great for quick pivot turns in front of a wave, but I need to be ready to get forward quickly to get that thin tail back out of the hole to catch the wave. I could not be happier with this.
Catching waves: The tiny waves today were not the easiest to catch, but I was delighted with the Flow. It does not have quite as much glide onto the wave as the Speeed, but no problem catching any waves, even tiny rollers. The narrower nose is a little more succeptable to catching a rail than the Speeed when climbing out on the nose to pull into a stubborn wave, which takes a little more skill awareness.
Riding the waves: More than any SUP that I have been on, this felt more like a regular surfboard; sleek, fast, and loose. It earns its name and really likes to Flow through bottom turns, cutbacks, and roundhouses. While the rails are very thinned out and crisp, the progressive tuck prevented any rail catching. Probably the biggest breakthrough of the day was that this board allows me to get decent backside rides. I admit to being a frontside snob, and always seek out right-handers. As a result, my backhand riding has always sucked on a surfboard, and was basically non-exististant on a SUP beyond trimming down the line with the occasional lumbering roundhouse. On my second backside wave today, I swear that this board gave me about four flowing roundhouses in a row. All of a sudden, riding backside felt natural; now that is saying something for this board. I could not be happier with this.

I have to comment on the artistic care in building these boards. They took the time to match up the pieces of balsa and the grain, so that both sides of the board are symmetrical. They put two strips of especially beautiful grain down each side of the center line which literally sparkle in the sun, and give the board its own unique personality and beauty. The wood layup was clearly no accident, and shows amazing pride in the workmanship. Everything about these boards from the refined rail lines, to the strong and artistic construction, to the little details like gore-tex vent plugs and the mini windsurf track speaks to thoughtful attention to quality and fine detail. My wife took the Flow for a short paddle today at the end of the session, and I loved admiring the clean lines that make the Flow born to flow through the water. Sunovas are truly in a class by themselves.
Also big kudos to Sunova on the supplied fins. They are high quality solid glass fins, and since the board has boxes for thruster or quad, they supplied enough fins to try either option; very classy. For my light weight (163#, 74 kilos), and the small waves today, the supplied fins were a little large, so I dug out some smaller fins with less rake that loosened the board up nicely. I will have to try the supplied fins again in bigger surf, but they still may be a little big for my size and weight. For a bigger guy, they would be perfect.

So how do I decide now whether to take out my Speeed or the new Flow? The Speeed with its straighter outline and flatter rocker still wins for racing down a fast wall, and loves to be walked up to the nose. The Flow is for continuous rail action flowing from bottom turns to roundhouses making use of the additional outline curve and rocker, and would be happy if you just stayed back around the sweet spot for turning.

My thanks to Tino and Bert for putting out such a high class performance product for a fair and reasonable price.

Time for me to go with the Flow!

[Sunova_Tino]

Nalu-Sup!
I gotta say I'm flattered. I can tell you that all of us work work than the waves but absolutely our families should have to put up with. Fortunately for us they all work in the factory or with the brand and we at least see each other a lot. The kids all take part in the company and help so are the paddles and some boards (latest one is JacyS new Acid 7'3) ARTwork by Nalu|Gwynt who are my kids. Bert's son Dylan is the absolute greatest addition we have had and this shows you how much effort it is to be around family, but when we make it work it proves that there is nothing more religious than the love of all these guys and girls.
Except very close to that the religion we live for and that's a ridden wave.

Now having said all that I wanted to thank you for such feedback because it seriously moved me and I know it does the same to Bert. We live for these moments which in a way feel like that perfect wave ridden too. When you guys describe what takes us ages and hundreds of try's and discussions feedback like this and also few mayor fights between Bert and I, it's worse every minute of it.

The greatest thing I see also something I can tell you is not normal since I worked in cobra or for other brands for the last 16 years and I gotta say we are pretty proud about that. It is that we some how managed to create a super fast direct link to so many of you who are all so spot on and detailed and frothing to make stuff better just like us.

the system we created with us over here all close together thinking talking kicking our asses because we cannot handle each other sometimes but then loving each other to death right away again and getting it into the factory and having these great guys in the factory trusting and respecting us like hell even we are stupid foreigners then shipping boards half way around nd the glove without the uses of middle man except fur the best shops that pass on the link to you which we share  is PRICELESS.

I wiped that little tear away and riding my scooter to the factory now to a meeting I already set with ALL people in it.

Today we start the day with why we are here. I'll read and translate this post to EVERYBODY.

THANX FROM OVER HERE.

ps : sorry for the fucking cheeky moment here

[Badger]

Very similar to my first few sessions on my 8'4.

I originally was going to go with the 8'7. Perfect length and width but the stock volume was a bit more than I wanted for my 170lbs +- winter/summer weight with wetsuit.

The 8'4 is perfectly stable for my medium ability in clean surf. I can deal with chop for a while but at 59 years old, it soon wears me out. That's when I bring out the low volume 8'10.

I can't believe the stuff I can do on the Flow. I'll be throwing spray off the lip in no time. Such a nice shape. It really fits my style of riding.

I found the 105 fins to be too big as well. Having two boards, I was able to put four 94's on the 8'4 which loosened it up nicely. I haven't yet dialed in the fins on the 8'10 but I'm thinking it will be something similar.

.

[supthecreek]

Good to hear some great feedback from Flow riders!

Nalu...Great review... thoughtful and  well explained.

you nailed it on the construction and the "feel" of the board. Just holding them is a pleasure.

Really glad you gave Tino & Bert something to share with the team that builds these boards.... they do amazing work and as Tino says.... it will be nice to read that to the team at the factory.

Badger, super glad you are ripping on your new boards!
I'll be up for a visit at some point.

[nalu-sup]

Another day with another great report on the Flow in new conditions. Another great morning session in small waves, then the wind came up cross offshore at 5 to 15mph. Enough to blow all of us surfers out of the water, but not enough to windsurf on regular wave gear. Perfect for windsup surfing. Put a 5.0 sail on the 8'7" Flow, my wife rigged a 4.5 sail on the new 7'11" SUP she was trying today, and life was good. It was perfect test conditions for this aspect of the board. In these conditions we are not trying to plane. You want just enough sail power to get around the break, pump onto the waves, and have the sail produce a little extra speed down the line on the wave. Sailing the Flow was easy, and it went upwind very well even while using the smaller fins I put on it. It pivot jibes or tacks on a dime, and pumps nicely onto the wave. Once on the wave it was a delight; way more fun that any of the half dozen other SUPs that I have wavesailed. Just as I was coming in at the end of the session, I lucked into the only overhead wave of the day, and my wife from the beach claimed that the Flow was doing a series of vertical lip attacks like a foot shorter windsurfing wave board.
Once again the Flow is meeting or exceeding my hopeful expectations. Loving it!